Meet Laurenne Ross

08 March 2011 12:33

American Laurenne Ross is the only woman on the World Cup tour with dreadlocks. And there are other characteristics that set her apart from the rest of the athletes. She knits hats, loves art and plays the violin, the piano, the cello and the guitar. She brings her guitar on tour with her and often invites her U.S. teammates over for sing-a-longs. She likes to keep busy.

Last Sunday the 22-year-old who was born in Canada but now calls Oregon home just missed the podium in the Tarvisio super G race. She ended up fourth, just 0.70 seconds away from the win and 0.20 off the podium. Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso, who finished first and second, were almost more excited to share the podium with her than they were about their own results.

The previous two seasons, Ross notched a whopping 10 victories on the No-Am Cup and has earned points in nearly every World Cup she’s raced this season. She was 10th in the world champs downhill and 16th in the Val d’Isere super-combined, even though she has struggled with anemia throughout the season.

She said her method of overcoming her ailments and getting faster on the racecourse is to get angry and harness that energy for something positive … to create speed.